Damian Thompson is Editor of Telegraph Blogs and a columnist for the Daily Telegraph. He was once described by The Church Times as a "blood-crazed ferret". He is on Twitter as HolySmoke. His latest book is The Fix: How addiction is taking over your world. He also writes about classical music for The Spectator.

Diplomatic row over Catholic order that honoured Assad of Syria; Archbishop Nichols urged to intervene

I reproduce below a letter to Archbishop Vincent Nichols on behalf of the Infante Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria and Grand Master of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St George. To cut a long story short, the Duke heads one of two rival branches of the Order; it is small, rather grand and, so far as I can tell, has better credentials than the other, headed by the Duke of Castro, based in Naples and vigorously promoted in London by its Delegate, the PR man and Labour Party donor Anthony Bailey, of whom you can read a profile here. (Amusingly, Mr Bailey calls himself "His Excellency" when playing this role; he is also described as the Order’s "worldwide Grand Magistral Delegate for Inter-Religious Relations".)

Anyway, Bailey's Constantinians – who enjoy strong support from the Magic Circle, including HE Cormac Card. Murphy-O'Connor – are planning some sort of ceremony in Westminster Cathedral this autumn. The other Constantinian branch is outraged. Hence this letter from Carlos Abella y Ramallo, Grand Chancellor of the Calabrian branch.

A storm in a teacup? In other circumstances, perhaps. But note the references to Syria in the letter. The Magic Circle Constantinians have been remarkably relaxed, shall we say, in their dealings with certain Middle Eastern dictatorships: the letter draws Archbishop Nichols's attention to "the scandalous awards of the Constantinian Gold Medal to the Presidents of the Republics of Syria and the Yemen". Those awards have been the subject of controversy for years, and never more so than now. Archbishop Nichols is being put on the spot here. It will be interesting to see how he responds. Perhaps he should ask himself whether he should remain as a chaplain to the Assad-honouring Constantinians.